| Ilia Gruev | |
| Full Name: | Ilia Iliev Gruev |
| Birth Date: | 2000 5, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Sofia, Bulgaria |
| Height: | 1.85 m |
| Position: | Defensive midfielder |
| Currentclub: | Leeds United |
| Clubnumber: | 44 |
| Youthyears1: | –2015 |
| Youthclubs1: | Rot-Weiß Erfurt |
| Youthyears2: | 2015–2019 |
| Youthclubs2: | Werder Bremen |
| Years1: | 2019–2020 |
| Clubs1: | Werder Bremen II |
| Caps1: | 19 |
| Goals1: | 2 |
| Years2: | 2021–2023 |
| Clubs2: | Werder Bremen |
| Caps2: | 59 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Years3: | 2023– |
| Clubs3: | Leeds United |
| Caps3: | 29 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Nationalteam1: | Bulgaria U17 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 3 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 1 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2017 |
| Nationalteam2: | Bulgaria U18 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 5 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2017 |
| Nationalteam3: | Bulgaria U19 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 2 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 0 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2021–2022 |
| Nationalteam4: | Bulgaria U21 |
| Nationalcaps4: | 14 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 1 |
| Nationalyears5: | 2022– |
| Nationalteam5: | Bulgaria |
| Nationalcaps5: | 16 |
| Nationalgoals5: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 10:48, 25 July 2024 (UTC) |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 19:01, 25 March 2024 (UTC) |
Ilia Iliev Gruev (Bulgarian: Илия Илиев Груев; born 6 May 2000) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Leeds United and the Bulgaria national team. He is the son of former Bulgarian international footballer Iliya Gruev.
After playing youth football for Rot-Weiß Erfurt, Gruev moved to Werder Bremen in 2015.[1] Gruev progressed through Bremen's youth teams, eventually becoming captain of the club's under-19 side before signing his first professional contract with the club in April 2019.
Gruev made his professional debut for Werder Bremen in the second round of the 2020–21 DFB-Pokal on 23 December 2020, coming on as a substitute in the 87th minute for Jean-Manuel Mbom against Hannover 96. The away match finished as a 3–0 win for Bremen.[2]
He scored the first goal of his senior career in a 4–1 win over Schalke 04 in April 2022, with a close-range header to put Bremen 1–0 up.[3] Werder Bremen were promoted to the Bundesliga at the end of the season, after finishing 2nd with 63 points.[4] Gruev extended his contract with Werder Bremen in summer 2022.[3]
The start of the 2022–23 season saw Gruev continue to play regularly for Bremen, appearing in 11 of their first 12 Bundesliga matches.[5]
On 31 August 2023, Gruev signed for EFL Championship club Leeds United on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[6] Gruev struggled to break into Leeds' first team in the first half of the 2023–24 season, being limited to just two league starts in 2023, both of which were in a box-to-box midfielder role rather than as a deep-lying midfielder, due to the form of Ethan Ampadu in that role.[7] On his third league start of the season, an injury to centre-back Pascal Struijk allowed Gruev to be given a start as a deep-lying midfielder in a 3–0 win against Cardiff City in January 2024 - Gruev was voted man of the match, having completed 68 out of 70 passes, giving him a 97% passing accuracy, a record for Leeds player (who recorded 50+ passes) since the statistic was first measured in the 2013–14 season.[8] [9] On 6 February he again received the man of the match award, in Leeds' FA Cup win at Plymouth.[10]
Gruev has appeared for the Bulgaria under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 national teams.[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] He received his first call-up for the senior national team on 5 September 2022, for the games of the UEFA Nations League games against Gibraltar and North Macedonia on 23 and 26 September 2022.[16] He made his debut in the match against Gibraltar on 23 September, won 5–1 by Bulgaria.[17]
Gruev was born in Sofia, but also holds German citizenship. He is the son of Iliya Gruev, former footballer and current manager.[18]
| Season | League | National cup | League cup | Other | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Werder Bremen II | 2019–20[19] | Regionalliga Nord | 15 | 2 | — | — | — | 15 | 2 | ||||
| 2020–21 | Regionalliga Nord | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 4 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 19 | 2 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | |||||
| Werder Bremen | 2020–21 | Bundesliga | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| 2021–22 | 2. Bundesliga | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 26 | 1 | ||||
| 2022–23 | Bundesliga | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 32 | 0 | ||||
| 2023–24 | Bundesliga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 59 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 62 | 1 | ||||
| Leeds United | 2023–24 | Championship | 29 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 1 | |
| Career total | 107 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 116 | 4 | |||
| Bulgaria | 2022 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 16 | 0 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|